Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Red Fish Blue Fish - Victoria, BC - Best fish and chips ever!

Red Fish Blue Fish... this may sound familiar to those who watch Food Tv or Food Network... This cargo container turned street food container was featured on Eat Street! This place was very hard to find if you're not familiar with the area (ie - me). Looking at map, we managed to walked past it not once, but twice! You cannot see it from the mainroad as it was facing the harbor front. The best instructions I got was "Look for a red brick building, walk down the hill and follow your nose". It had poor signage, and was nestled behind a building at the base of the hill facing the harbour. However, once we found it, we were in for a wait for their excellent food... and we weren't alone: Lineups start long before 11:30am when they open. After a 45min wait, it was totally worth it!

the FOOD
The Cod dog in of itself was well worth the search and wait. It was invented because of customer's requests for hotdogs. Now this goes well beyond your standard hotdog. Crispy battered cod was super moist and savory, is laced with pickles, dilled dijonaisse and house made tartar sauce all served on a soft fresh Irene's Bakery's hot hog roll. Crunchy, crisp, soft, savory, tangy.. NOM! The coleslaw it came with needed some work as it was a bit on the bland side, but the Cod dog was the star of this show! After eating at a bunch of fish and chips places throughout Vancouver Island and Victoria, Red Fish Blue Fish definitely takes the cake for the best battered fish, but sadly fell short in the coleslaw category. Oh well, can't win them all.

The Wild Pacific Fish and Chips batter was flaky and crispy, light and surprisingly only lightly greasy. The fish was fresh, succulent and juicy... Just could not have enough of this delicious fish! Why did I have to share? Well, partially because it was $15 for two pieces LOL! The malt vinegar syrup for an extra $0.50 was so worth it... it was sooo good, mainly sweet with hints of sour, perfect for those who love salty sweet combinations, and when you dunk the fish in, you're in for incredible NOM!! The inhouse tartar sauce is great too, but totally overshadowed by the awesomeness of the malt vinegar syrup.. nommy nom nom!

The BBQ Fanny Bay Oyster Tacone is essentially a BBQ'd oyster wrap. Take two very fresh medium large oysters, BBQ them to a moist juicy tender tasty, and top with a hit of golden shallot aioli, pea shoots, and lemon pickled onions, all hand rolled up in a soft tortilla. Tastiness, but not the most memorable (in a good way!) when compared to other items they had. It was also served with their coleslaw (no choice with this one, it comes with it).

Spicy Pacific Fish Poutine This may sound like an off putting item, but how could you resist a small mini mountain of crisp fries, topped with fried bits of flaky crisp fresh fish, laced with a slightly spicy creamy tangy chipotle mayo like sauce, and garnished with diced green onions. There's no cheese, and the mayo like sauce with just a subtle heat from the chilis is an interesting take instead of the ubiquitous gravy. Velly tasty! Mmmmmm.

Pacific Rim ChowderThis chowder was more of a soup as there was no cream, and it wasn't thickened. Its an aromatic savory coconut, sweet corn, garlic broth with notes of chipotle peppers. The pacific white fish confit was unfortunately overcooked and continues to overcook in the hot broth as you eat it. Its full of slightly soggy noodles, carrots, corn, chunks of fish with the main flavor being coconut. The large white chunks in the picture are not tofu nor fish - but the soggy broad noodles. As a hot and sour soup, its passable, but definitely misnamed as it was not a chowder in the conventional sense.

Red Fish Blue Fish participates in sustainable 100% Ocean Wise seafood program which means they local source all their seafood from companies that practise sustainable policies. It was totally worth it to drive around and then wander around aimlessly, then waiting 45min+ for their fish and chips. Definitely the best battered fish I've had since freshly caught fish and chips wrapped in newspaper in Ireland.

the VERDICT
Overall, this is not your ordinary fish and chips joint... and its well worth the searching and waiting for their awesome fish and chips and Cod Dogs. Nommy!